Christmas Rush
by mosxyo
Summary: Sakura and Syaoran spend some time together, but there's something Syaoran's burning to ask his beautiful Sakura. Please Review so I can write more


Because of the reviews I got for "Three Sounds" I decided to write a little more about the situation I created. Reading that story though is not required, as this comes before "Three Sounds". Enjoy, and remember, it's not a lemon:P

Christmas Rush

momoyome

He sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets. His hands were warm there, but no where close to the warmth he felt when his hands brushed her skin. It wasn't snowing anymore; the weather had let up a fair bit for him to venture outside his apartment. He had stayed inside the whole day with Sakura curled up under a blanket with the television on. It was a horribly cheesy thought, but Syaoran would have it no other way.

She had kept his apartment nice for him in his long absences. He suspected that she would be there often because the moment he stepped inside the seldom lived apartment all he could smell was her. There wasn't a scent like it, no perfume that could mimic the delicate flowery smell she emitted.

He continued to trudge through a foot of snow, casually glancing up at the stores that were particularly flashy. One had a life-sized mechanical Santa Clause in the window that was waving. Another had Christmas light hanging up and blinking erratically. As much as he loved the way the world looked at Christmas time, the nagging feeling of loneliness still tugged at his heart. _I have Sakura though_ his mind said as he stopped in front of the jewelry store he had been meaning to go to since he arrived in Japan last week.

The store was fancy with large diamond necklaces and pictures of celebrities wearing the large accessories. Syaoran himself would never understand women's fascination with the sparkly rock, but he knew they were very important. His sisters drilled that into his head from the time he was young. The pesky comments about diamonds and rings had increased as soon as he left his teen years and into his early 20s. _They could disapprove of her though._ He pushed the door open to the store and the bells on the door chimed to let the salesperson know there was a customer to be helped.

The store seemed extremely bright and extremely white to Syaoran. Cases filled with beautifully crafted necklaces and rings and other diamond goods lined the walls of the store. Syaoran took his hands out of his pockets and stood there feeling a little helpless. No wonder he had put off doing this for so long, this was going to be difficult. Shopping with Sakura for clothes was hard, and all he had to do was stand there and nod and look somewhat interested in what she was putting on her body. It's not that he was heartless, he did care about her, but he was biased. She could walk out of the house in a paper sack and he would still think she was the most beautiful thing God created.

"Can I help you?" A saleslady dressed in a black blazer and black skirt came out from behind a counter to smile and great Syaoran. He gulped and snapped his head back to the situation at hand. Not Sakura dressed in a skimpy paper bag.

"Uh…Engagement rings," He declared, after some hesitation and struggle to find his words again. "Where are they?"

The lady smiled and nodded and walked over to the right side of the store "These are our selections of rings. If you need something priced, just ask." No prices. They were no doubt very expensive to not carry price tags. "If you need any help or would like to see a ring up close, just ask," She bowed and left Syaoran to look over the rings. There were so many and they all looked the same. It was like the time Sakura held up two different pairs of black shoes to him and asked which one he liked better. To him, they were the exact same thing, but to her, there was clearly a difference.

He couldn't just pick one randomly. That would simply be foolish. He had to pick _best _one, the one that sparkled the most, the one with the biggest diamond, the one that let everyone know that she belonged to someone.

He slowly made his way down the line of engagement rings. There must have been hundreds. As he made his slow trek, he started to notice the subtle differences each ring had. One had just one diamond; others had one diamond with little diamonds surrounding them, and so on. He tried to think what Sakura would want, what would catch her eyes and make them sparkle. He loved to see her eyes light up in excitement, it made him happy and made him feel warm inside. And he liked being warm, especially when the weather had been as frigid as it was.

Eventually Syaoran came to a stop half way through looking at all the rings. There were about ten rings with diamonds of different colors, and a few were pink. Syaoran bent over the case to get a closer look at them. The pink ones were certainly more beautiful than the clear ones. He knew that one of those were going to be the one he would purchase for her. "Excuse me…" He turned around and motioned for the girl to come over so he could see the rings first hand.

She rushed over and went behind the case. "One of these strikes your fancy?"

"Yeah, those pink ones, can I see them all?" She nodded and pulled a key ring from her pocket and unlocked the case. She gently took them out and placed them on a satin pillow.

"If you want, we can go sit down and you can look at them under a magnifying glass?"

"That's not necessary," Syaoran said as he picked up one with a silver band with a many little diamonds cut and placed to look like a rose. This was the absolute one; he did not need to see the rest. "I'll take this one," He said as he held it up to a light and watched as the diamond caught the light and reflected prisms of light. The salesgirl blinked in astonishment. Usually customers took a while to decide the right and always would look at them more intently than this man.

"Alright, let me get this wrapped up for you then," She extended her hand and Syaoran gave the ring back. She ducked below the counter and got a small black box to hold the ring. "I'll ring this up for you over there," She pointed to a cash register in the center of the store on the back wall. Syaoran nodded and went to pay.

"461,780 Yen," Syaoran didn't even flinch as he handed over a credit card.

Sakura fussed with her keys. It was rather difficult to work keys when your hands were trapped in large mittens. "Come on…." She mumbled as she found the correct key and shoved it into the lock and turned it. There. She pushed the door open and took a deep breath of the air. It smelt like a Christmas tree. Her and Syaoran had put the tree up nearly a week ago now, right after he returned from Hong Kong. It had yet to be decorated yet. Despite the fact that it had yet to be adorned with lights and ornaments, Sakura enjoyed the look of it. She loved the smell even more. She tore her gloves off and tossed them on the coffee table. _Where could he be?_ She furrowed her eyebrow. Yesterday he had asked her to come over so they could finally decorate his tree, and now he was gone.

Sighing, she sat herself down on his couch and shut her eyes, completely exhausted. College was no picnic for her. There were so many other things she wanted to pursue instead of studying for many mind-numbing hours about things she had no real interest in. During her classes, she would often let her mind wander to other places. It was bad practice for her, her father was paying good money for her to go to Waseda University, the least she could do was pay attention.

_Next semester I'll do better…_ Her mind thought as she slowly fell from the conscious world to her dreams.

Syaoran clutched the black box in his hand. Paying for the ring brought the actual reality of the matter to hand. Three years ago after they graduated high school and he left for Hong Kong, he decided he was going to marry her someday. The plane ride from Narita airport to Hong Kong was torture. Every mile the plane flew, his heart would break a little more. After being away from her, he knew just how much he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

And now, he had the ring clutched in his right hand and gently swinging as his feet took him back to his apartment. He took his time walking back, thinking about the ways he could ask her. All of them sounded unoriginal, like they belonged in a low-budget movie. _Will you marry me works…?_ He concluded that those words would be best, simple, and straight to the point.

Stopping in front of the apartment building, he looked up at the sky. The clouds were back and looked heavy with water once again. It would no doubt snow during the night, or maybe in just a few hours time.

When he got to his apartment door, he glided his key in and out with ease and opened the door. What he saw brought a smile to his face. On his couch was his Sakura, wrapped up in the same blanket as last night, sleeping soundly. He glanced at his watch. She had come over early looking for him. He tucked the black box that he clenched in his hand so dearly into his jacket pocket and carefully removed the jacket from his body. Gently, he placed it on the coat rack near the door. He removed his snow boots and placed them off to the side, his eyes never leaving the couch where Sakura laid.

Smiling, he kneeled next to the couch and watched her sleep. Her breath was slow and steady, her mouth was slightly open. _I wonder if she's dreaming_ Syaoran pondered as he leaned into her and pressed his cold lips to her warm ones. They woke his body up and he felt the familiar warmth of Sakura again. She moved in her sleep and slowly woke up after feeling Syaoran's frosty lips on her own.

"Where've you been," Sakura said as she yawned and stretched out over the couch. He kissed her again.

"Out," He replied. "Are you hungry, I can make you something warm, you looked a little cold," Syaoran brushed a piece of her honey-colored hair out of her eyes and looked at them in their entirety. Her face flushed with his eyes on her. Still adorable, and still ever so shy.

"I'm not that hungry," She yawned once more and sat up. "Maybe later," She put her hand next to her in the empty space now available. Syaoran took the invitation to sit and placed the blanket over himself.

"How was your day, Love," He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her even closer to him.

An hour went by with Syaoran holding Sakura protectively in his arms; his mind was never far from his coat pocket, wondering when the right time would be. Sakura was so caught up with talking sometimes that he couldn't break her concentration of her story to ask her. He loved hearing her voice, even if her rambles didn't make much sense, her voice brought him comfort.

"Syaoran!" Sakura yelled and giggled, throwing popcorn at him. "That was not nice!" He grinned at her from the top of the ladder. For ten minutes now they had been hanging decorations on the tree. It was still bare, but Syaoran had managed to put lights on it and was now hanging smaller ornaments towards the top. The tree was large and full so he stood much higher than her on the latter.

"I saw opportunity, and Sakura, you do have nice jingle bells!" Sakura frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. He had been referring to her cleavage. The sweater that Sakura wore dipped low and showed a small bit of her cleavage that Syaoran could see perfectly from the top of the ladder.

"It's not a nice thing to say," She turned around, her arms still crossed over her chest. Syaoran sighed and climbed down from the ladder to then wrap his arms around Sakura. She was stiff in his arms; she was trying to be mad at him. Bending down a little, he kissed her ear and rocked her back and forth.

"I'm sorry," He then whispered to her. "Hey," His eyes had traveled to the window. "Lets take a break from this, it looks like it's snowing outside,"

"Hoe…" She sighed and tilted her head and looked up at him. "I can never stay mad at you for long, can I?" Slyly he smiled and kissed her cheek at her comment.

"Nah, come on, lets go, put your jacket on," He let her body go and she moved away from him to get ready for going out in the cold.

The temperature had dropped dramatically since the sun went down. Syaoran thought his hands would have frozen off had Sakura not been holding one of them. Her face carried a faint smile as they walked in complete silence to the Penguin Park of their youth. The snow would be un-shoveled and untouched at this time of night, perfect for snowman building and a playful romp with Sakura without the world's eyes watching them.

Syaoran shoved his hand deeper into his pocket, feeling the box with his fingers and rolling it around in the pocket. This is where he'd ask. The park already held many dear memories for him, so why not add one more into the mix?

"Whaa, it's so pretty at night!" Sakura let go of Syaoran's hand and ran to the center of the park to get a better view of the snow. She looked like the center of a snow globe, Syaoran concluded as she twirled around under the light of the lamps. _Beautiful_.

Shoving his hands deeper and deeper into his pockets, he gave a sigh, smiled and walked to the spot Sakura had situation herself. "You're even prettier," He told her as he wrapped his arms around her and held her close to his body so he could feel her warmth again. He kissed her forehead and gave her a smile. "Don't say otherwise. I'll be stubborn,"

Sakura sighed and leaned more into Syaoran and shut her eyes, taking in the feel of Syaoran's arms holding her and keeping her safe from harm.

"Sakura…" He placed a gloved hand on her chin and brought her head up to look into his eyes. The color in her face flushed red. Their lips touched once, his just only skimming over hers in one fluid motion. "I love you so much," He breather to her, his lips still dangling dangerously close to hers.

"I love you too, Syaoran," She responded, smiling. No matter how many times he could tell her how much he loved her, hearing him say the words sent a shiver down her spine.

He sighed and brought his hands to rest around her waist. "Sakura, when I'm in Hong Kong, all I think is how much I miss you and how much I wish I didn't have other obligations to deal with so I could spend more time with you. I love spending time with you and I want to spend as much time with you as possible," When he finished, he pushed his forehead to hers, closing his eyes and taking a large sigh.

"Are you okay?" Sakura's eyes lit up with concern.

"No, I'm fine," Syaoran grinned and let go of her waist with both of his hands and reached into his pocket, then kneeled down on one knee before her in the snow. The white powder was cold against his right knee even with the fabric of his pants separating him from it. Sakura continued to give him a puzzled look.

From his pocket he produced the black box he had purchased hours earlier and showed to Sakura. "Sakura," He opened the box and tried to look into her eyes, but they were transfixed on his hand and what it held. "Will you marry me?" He opened the box and the ring was revealed to her saucer-like eyes. Sakura stood there, her mouth open, looking at the perfectly cut pink diamond ring.

"Syaoran..." Was all she could say. His knee and the rest of his right leg were beginning to feel the effects of kneeling in the snow for too long. He looked at her, his expression painted with concern to how she was reacting. Could this be rejection? He pushed himself up and stood in front of her.

"Sakura?"

With that she jumped onto him, wrapping her arms and legs around him. "Hoe! Of course!" Syaoran was knocked off his guard and dropped the box into the snow. He'd get it later and put the ring on her finger properly. For now, she held her in his arms and kissed her everywhere he could.

Dec 2, 2006


End file.
